Strong Poison

by Dorothy Sayers, 288 pages, Gollancz, 1930
Reviewed by Dan Shaw, April 11, 2020

I'll keep this one short because this one is already pretty much an acknowledged classic among people who like mystery books. Readers of Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series often put this one at the top of the whole pile. I've haven't gotten to all of the Wimsey mysteries. But I have read enough, I think, to have a general sense of what the series is about and be a somewhat competent judge of when Sayers is making the most of her talents and when she is falling short.

This one did not disappoint. But I think my favorite Wimsey tale remains "Murder Must Advertise." I can't say exactly why this is except that the advertising-agency setting of "Muder Must Advertise" reminds me a bit of a newspaper, so there were a few more situations in that book that seemed instantly familiar.

Otherwise, Sayers offers in Strong Poison her usual sort of carefully elaborated plot, gives Wimsey plenty of witty things to say, provides a new twist with a love interest for Wimsey in the person of Harriet Vane, and wraps the whole thing up with a plausible and simple solution that was nonetheless difficult to see coming. Like many of her books, this one is a "HowHeDunnit?" instead of a "WhoDunnit?" - meaning it's more or less obvious from the start who the culprit is, making the only real question: How did he commit the dastardly deed?

My one quibble: Sayers, Agatha Christie and the other stars of the "Golden Age" of detective fiction are usually praised for "playing fair with the reader." This usually means they present to the reader the exact same clues that the detective uses to deduce his solution. The reader has every opportunity to reach the same conclusions and would in fact do so if he weren't such a dolt. So when Wimsey solves the mystery by drawing on his esoteric knowledge about, well, strong poison (don't think that's a spoiler there), I didn't entirely feel that I was being played fair with. But that's a minor flaw in an otherwise very entertaining read.

Not sure if that counts as short. But I'm on my third week of quarantine and am bored.